Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Planting progress is ahead of normal, but it varies by neighborhood. Around 40% of corn and 25% of soybeans are planted in our Northwest region. Rainfall over the last two weeks has been sporadic, so planting progress this week depends mostly on rainfall amounts. More farmers on the south side of this region started early around April 10th, so they are slightly ahead of the northern counties where more started the following week. The extended forecast stays warmer than average with above average rain chances. It looks like most corn planting may be done by the end of April, which is ahead of normal, but it will depend on rain amounts over the next week or so. For some areas, the planting windows could be short through at least the first week of May. Soil temperatures hovered mostly above 50 degrees since about April 10th, but it looks like soil temps should be more in the 60’s over the next couple weeks which is good.

The first corn planted has been in the ground for two weeks. I estimate most of this corn should emerge next week. Three weeks for corn emergence is typical when planted in the first half of April. I don’t have any major concerns about the early planted corn yet. Most areas in this region could use more rain, but we don’t want heavy pounding rain this time of year during planting and while the crops are trying to emerge. Overly wet soil during planting can cause issues with soil compaction, crusting, and plant diseases. Currently, soil conditions in this area range from perfect to slightly too wet for corn planting.

Soybean planting is also running ahead of normal pace. More and more farmers are trying to get soybeans planted either before or at the same time as corn. Soybean yields can benefit from early planting. However, we have had areas of frost damage in late May in recent years. Temperatures at or below 28 degrees can kill young soybean plants as soon as they emerge.